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CCommunities in China and around the world spend the weekend celebrating Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival will be held on Saturday, February 24th, marking the end of his 2024 Lunar New Year festivities in the Year of the Dragon.
The Lantern Festival takes place on January 15th of the Chinese calendar and celebrates the first full moon of the lunar calendar. People traditionally celebrate this holiday by decorating with colorful lanterns. The lanterns have riddles written on them, and those who solve the puzzles are often rewarded with prizes.
See how people around the world enjoy their holidays.
How to celebrate Lantern Festival in China
Thousands of people welcomed the lantern festival in cities across the world’s second most populous country with 1.4 billion people. In Beijing, many lantern festival events were held across the city. Families flocked to see the impressive lantern display and illuminated inflatable animals. In Rizhao, bakeries were busy making special sweet rice balls for the holiday, shaped and colored like persimmons.
Celebratory events were held in various places, and lion dances and dragon dances were performed. In the city of Qiandongnan, there was also a combination of dragon dancing and fireworks, with performers wearing fire-retardant clothing and helmets.
Many cities put a regional spin on the celebration, displaying unique folk art and clothing. In Anyang, creators with face paint paraded on stilts. Another city, Qingdao, held a carnival featuring traditional dancing, drumming, and folk art.
Fireworks were set off on skylines across the country. In Chongqing, tourists watched a remote-controlled performance in which a giant, illuminated bird flew through the sky.
How Asia welcomes the Lantern Festival
Some communities in Southeast Asia also celebrate this holiday called Cap Go Me.
In Penang, Malaysia, a street festival includes fire juggling, food, arts and crafts, dragon dancing, orchestras, drumming, and dondang sayan, a type of traditional Malay song listed as UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. was held.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, some families gathered at a Chinese temple and then had a meal ronton cap go meA traditional holiday dish of rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves and served with chicken, hard-boiled eggs, vegetables in coconut milk soup, shrimp crackers, and chili paste.
In Indonesia, some people had their faces pricked with needles, a custom said to ward off evil spirits.
canadian lantern festival festival
In Canada, where many people live in the Chinese diaspora, lights were planned to coincide with the holiday. Vancouver was hosting a series of LunarFest events, including art exhibits, film screenings, origami workshops, and more.
A two-day celebration was planned for Toronto’s Chinatown, featuring a lion dance, a Chinese lunch and a mahjong game tournament. Restaurants across the city were ready to offer great deals and special treats. Performances, lantern displays, and art fairs filled public spaces.
Several events paid homage to other cultures that celebrate this holiday, with a Vietnamese New Year celebration expected and the library hosting a Korean Lunar New Year with readings in Korean.
British Lantern Festival
Some communities in the UK also celebrated the holiday, with food walks in Chinatown in London and a commemoration ceremony in Southampton.
Elsewhere, Birmingham’s modern Chinese restaurant is holding its own celebration to mark the special occasion.
How the United States celebrates the Lantern Festival
In addition to local celebrations among the Chinese community, several official events were held to celebrate the holiday in cities across the United States, including a DIY lantern event in New York City.
In San Francisco, local organizations coordinated a celebration featuring performances, lanterns and mahjong. In neighboring Oakland, home to Chinatown, nonprofits teamed up over the weekend to feature Asian American artists and support local businesses.
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